This invention relates to the buffing or finishing art. The words "buffing" and "finishing" are used through-out this application in their general sense including operations in which material is removed from the work and operations in which no material is removed from the work which is referred to specifically as coloring or polishing.
This invention has particular relationship to buffing apparatus in which a plurality of buffing wheels of the type shown in Schaffner U.S. Pat. No. 2,805,530, except that they are centerless, are ganged or stacked. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,365,742 (herein '742) to J. R. Schaffner and 4,882,880 (herein '880) to Paul E. Schaffner et al. are typical of the prior art. While apparatus embodying the invention of these patents has proven itself to be highly satsifactory, this apparatus has undesirable features both from an economic and a functional aspect. In buffing apparatus of Schaffner '742, each individual wheel includes a hub 23 in which there are slots 31 and 33. Tabs 21 extend from these slots of each wheel and are locked in the slots of adjacent wheels to form a rigid unit of ganged buffing wheels. The buffing apparatus is driven through the hub. The parts, including the slotted hubs and the tabs, impose substantial cost in manufacture and maintenance of the apparatus disclosed in patent '742. The buffing apparatus of Schaffner '880 is composed of abutted, low-weight cartridges 15 (FIG. 2), each cartridge composed of a stack of buffing wheels. Each cartridge has an internal sleeve of cardboard in which there are keyways 23 of wood through which the apparatus is driven. The sleeve and keyways constitute a significant item of manufacturing cost and maintenance. In addition, the cartridges are formed by stacking buffing wheels with beads of slow-setting adhesive between the wheels and fast-setting adhesive near an end. This is a high-cost feature.
It is an object of this invention to eliminate the above-described drawbacks and deficiencies of the prior art buffing apparatus including ganged or stacked buffing wheels and to provide such apparatus which shall not include or require components such as the slotted hubs or discs of Schaffner '742 or the cardboard sleeves and wood keyways and the cement of Schaffner '880. It is also an object of this invention to provide a method of making such apparatus.